Actual Proportion
Definition
The actual proportion refers to the true proportion of a characteristic within the entire population being studied. It is often unknown and we use sample data to estimate it.
Analogy
Imagine you are trying to estimate the actual proportion of students at your school who enjoy playing basketball. Since you cannot survey every student, you take a random sample and find that 30% of those surveyed enjoy playing basketball. This estimated proportion represents your best guess at the actual proportion for the whole school.
Related terms
Sample Size: The number of observations or individuals in a sample.
Sampling Distribution: The distribution of sample statistics (like proportions) based on repeated sampling from the same population.
Confidence Interval: A range of values calculated using observed data, which is likely to contain the true population parameter with specified confidence level.
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